English Dub Season Review: The Bizarre Stories of Professor Zarbi Season One

 

 

Here at Bubbleblabber, we have enjoyed covering adult-themed animated content from all corners of the globe. Though surprisingly, we have never covered a series directly out of Quebec. Despite the French-speaking Canadian province being so close in proximity, the media culture there feels a world away.

Actually, Quebec has supplied the world with some major animation franchises. Although everyone probably would have been alright with Caillou staying local. But the foundation has been laid for the province to branch out into new genres.

The landscape of adult animation in Canada has been shifting. Two of the nation’s most successful franchises are both enjoying animated runs in the Corner Gas and Trailer Park Boys Animated Series’. More recently, the new Adult Swim Canada launched its first all-Canadian program with the wildly underappreciated Doomsday Brothers.

However, unbeknownst to most of us, Quebec has been developing plenty of animated content for Teletoon, and its mature-themed late-night block, Teletoon la Nuit. Beyond offering Quebecois with translated versions of shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy, Teletoon la Nuit has created a significant amount of homegrown content. They just have not been sharing.

Thankfully, the still-young Adult Swim Canada has been opening some new doors for local content. And now the rest of Canada can enjoy the quirky comedy that has been hoarded away in the French-speaking province. 

The Bizarre Stories of Professor Zarbi is making way for animators in Quebec to reach a larger audience. The show is currently wrapping up a second season in its native language has become the first to be translated to English for Adult Swim.  

The series centres around Zarbi, a wizened and talented challenger of the occult. Along with his adolescent sidekick, Benjamin, they help solve mysteries, fend off aliens, and send demons back to hell. A good mix of dumb luck and experience makes this dynamic duo the go-to source when dealing with problems of the unknown.

More honestly, Professor Zarbi is what would happen if Rick and Morty were to make a parody of Scooby-Doo. Although most of the subversive humour of the former is absent leaning more towards the zany adventures of the latter.  

The Bizarre Stories of Professor Zarbi works more like a classic anthology collection of monster stories. Released as a 10-episode season of 22-minute episodes, each episode includes two individual stories for a 20-story collection. Each edition offering a new parody of traditional occult plots from mummies to vampires.

Throughout the first season, there were stories from across pop culture, including some that we have never heard of before. But each of them involved some sort of twist that makes them unique to this world. A world that seems to be overrun with paranormal happenings.  

Just about anything can occur in the world of Professor Zarbi, and it does. There are elves that throw raves and suck the life force out of senior citizens. Superheroes boasting themselves on the international talent show stage. Even a personal trainer who uses voodoo to seek revenge on hockey players.

There are even some highly intelligent parodies. The spin on Twilight was made memorable for intermixing parts of Carrie. The final edition of season one is a fresh take on The Last Starfighter, but with much more of a Super Mario influence.

Unfortunately, the series struggles to maintain consistency. At times, the mature rating is questionable as it feels like you are watching a show designed for children. At other times, it can be hard to get on board with the story they are telling. Though that can be based on our personal biases towards certain paranormal stories over others. 

Thankfully if ghost pirates aren’t quite your thing, the show could easily follow it up with a potato-themed cult plot.

Still, The Bizarre Stories of Professor Zarbi is a show worth checking out. If for nothing else but the highly detailed animation. 

Though it might not look like much from the stills, the stylistic approach to this show is eye-catching and effective in its fluidity. The amount of detail and attention that is put into each scene and character is made more impressive by the fact that each episode introduces new faces and settings.

Truth be told, it is nice to have an animated sitcom that is trying to follow the trends or be the next big thing.  The Bizarre Stories of Professor Zarbi only seems to be interested in telling stories of the occult. It is self-aware and doing its best at squeezing as much as it can into each episode. 

It doesn’t waste time building a massive universe or ongoing plots. And the simplified approach is refreshing in today’s climate of serialized cartoons.

Not a show to binge-watch, this is a fun series to dive into for an episode should it come across your screen. The hard and fast storytelling and high-quality animation make it an entertaining watch, even on the duller episodes.

Quebec has delivered an adult animated series that goes above expectations. There is no wonder why the show is already two seasons deep and released in dual languages. It stands its own ground on an Adult Swim channel that boasts some of the best animated programs in the world. Not that it can be compared to those other shows, just that the simple parodies and jokes about poutine are a welcome break from it all.